Awarded in 1998 (aged 23) my scholarship intention was to spend the period of 3 months in Finland, with a research plan reflecting my artist research interests of the time, and followed an 'Isolation/Integration' theme.

I approached this theme in a broad way, initially investigating different aspects by travelling to Central Finland, Lapland and Helsinki, in the formal way of research. However I took some liberties in what is termed research, by going camping on my own in the forests and lakes, swapping music, taking many saunas, and never failing to be fascinated by the fact everyone had a mobile, by asking 'why?'! (this was 1998 remember, when over 60% people already had one, and not yet myself). However, the theme also inspired the media artwork which I made while in residence at the Jyväskylä Printmaking and Creative Photography Centre in Central Finland. I developed unconsciously from the benefit of people I either arranged to meet or met along the way. In the end, I explored this dialectic both culturally and personally.

Communication, socialising, networking, relating perspectives and experience are core aspects of the process of integration. It was ironic that only in summary -writing the report which is detailed below in contents index- did I realise that the theme also applied to my literal lived and experienced time in Finland, which eventually spanned in total 5 months. Beginning from a position of spending (too) much time on my own at the workshop, slowly developing friends in the town I lived; Making journeys, plus further contacts around Finland, and eventually collaborating with others, exhibiting the artwork produced during the time. I learned in the process, of the transition from being isolated to being integrated within a community, and that these states are always relative.

Due to the mix of theme in both the personal and cultural spheres, I decided to make a report in the unconventional form of a personal-theoretical diary. Although I would not necessarily recommend the difficulties I had in trying to pull together a report this way, it did teach and inform me how to (and not to) approach and document what might be called 'practice-based research'.

Hence, in summary, the Peter Kirk Memorial Trust Award gave me, in the later half of 1998, my first opportunity to explore and mix both my artistic practice of the time and research interests, as well as allowed me to engage a European culture personally in depth according to my own directed interests. No doubt, it was a serious and hard challenge, however, the result was an invigorating boost to my career as an artist-researcher, and an immensely rich and rewarding experience. I was most thankful for the award and the opportunity, as well as the freedom they gave me before (and after) that first period living in Finland.

As happens with intense and productive experiences to a foreign land, I returned. Several times, and then stayed. At the end of 2002, to undertake Doctoral Studies at the Medialab, University of Art and Design Helsinki (now Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture, to investigate what might be known as 'locative' mobile media, where such themes rose again. I was to embark on a longer, more 'epic' version of arguably the same process. We are a circle in a circle, no beginning, never-ending.

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"In the form of a creative and philosophical journey round Finland from Helsinki to Central Finland to Lapland and back, this scholarship esssay intertwines anecdotal examples of living and practicing as an artist in residence with themes of isolation and integration.

Meandering between reality and virtuality, networks and solitude in numerous forms, the text explores the notion that neither of these categories are actual psychological points of geography, but imagined markers or headings for the philosophical travel between being and looking."

Please note that I do not own the copyrights to distribute some of the corporate graphics and also some Sami related graphic illustrations. If you wish them removed contact me via social media @agryfp

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looking for pulse.ryhthmresponse

Chapter/Contents/page

1.Preface/2.Information.Ideas.Hopes.Images.Dreams/3.To avoid labouring over details I'll summerise the gist of the proposal/4.Time to apply facts to theory/5.In-flight Interlude/6.Finland/7.Another travel/distance observation/8.Jyvaskyla/9.Seasons/10.Technological enlightenment or interference?/11.Island/12.Sauna/13.Interpersonal communication/14.Myths between us/15.Salsa Lessons/16.Language/17.Music versus Language/18.Artist-in-Residence/19.Inspiration/20.How do I feel about all of this? Lets talk about it/21.Mobiles/22.On the threshold of Emptiness/23.Visitor to the online, virtual world in line for depression?/24.We may be clever but…/25.Another sense of space/26.The further you travel North the less trees there are/27.Rovaniemi/28.Inari/29.Hotel/Café/Restaurant/Pub/Disco/Public Place/Souvenirs/Bus Stop /30.Siida/31.The stories they told me/32.Noticable change of perspective/33.The closing of a circle and thus chapter in Finland/34.Solo exhibition as a collaboration/35.Reflections in the water/